The present invention generally relates to the field of craftsman's tools and fixtures, and more particularly, is directed to a fascia hanger for assisting a workman in installing fascia board.
In many of the construction trades, the economies of modern construction necessitates that the number of craftsmen be limited to as few as possible due to high labor cost. Labor cost are particularly high in the construction industry which, by necessity, is labor intensive because few construction practices can be reduced to automated techniques. The advances in modern construction practices have been, for the most part, in improvements in the operation and efficiency of everyday tools that craftsmen use. For example, the development of automatic nailing guns, super adhesives, and tools to apply them, and better materials and prefabricated substructures have greatly improved the efficiency and speed of building construction.
Much of the improvements in the past, however, have been directed toward improving the efficiency of the individual craftsman. There remains, however, much needed improvements in overall construction practices which will lead to a reduction in the number of needed craftsmen, and thus, a corresponding reduction in construction cost. One such area is the hanging of fascia board to the ends of rafters during the construction of a home, which in he past has been a two or three-man job.
In conventional home construction, the rafters slant downward from the peak of the roof to the upper edge of the wall. Boards are laid on the upper surface of the rafters to form the roof. The rafters and roof extend beyond the wall and eave troughs at the edge of the roof receive the rain runoff from the roof. The eave troughs are mounted on fascia boards fastened to the ends of the rafters and lay parallel to the wall of the house.
In order to provide a flat surface for the fascia board to attach, the ends of the rafters are often cut parallel to the wall of the house. Such a practice requires an angular cut through the rafters which involves a considerable amount of time and resulting expense. An alternative practice has been to nail the fascia board to the upper edge of the squared ends of the rafters or to the roof boards. This approach, however, is a less than desirable alternative because the fascia board will tend to separate from the rafters due to accumulations of ice, snow, wet leaves and the like because of the poor connection of the fascia board. Thus, a number of devices are known in the prior art which attempt to overcome these problems by attaching to the rafter edge and providing a suitable surface for attachment of the fascia board. One such device is the fascia board support disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,164. The support forms and shapes the ends of the rafters in order to accommodate the fascia board.
While such devices represent an improvement in the attachment of fascia board, they leave unresolved the costly and labor intensive efforts required in the hanging of such boards.